In collaboration with The University of Western Australia, the Perth USAsia Centre is pleased to announce that the 2017 In The Zone Conference – “The Blue Zone” will be held on Monday, 2 October 2017 in Perth, Western Australia. The conference will host a program of distinguished and expert speakers, including the Honourable Julie Bishop, Australia's Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dr Han Sueng-soo, former President of the United Nations General Assembly (2001) and former South Korean Prime Minister (2008-2009) and Mr Chris Salisbury, Chief Executive of Rio Tinto, Iron Ore.
This year’s In The Zone Conference will spark a regional discussion that aims to contribute to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG14) of seeking to ‘Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources’.
We would be delighted if you would join us here in Perth to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing the Indo-Pacific’s maritime realm.

9:00 - Children's Activities - October School Holiday Chinese Cultural Activities for Children : Creative, affordable, interesting and educational activities for primary school children aged 6-12 years during October school holidays

Join us for a week of hands-on holiday fun this October school holidays. Sign up for a morning, a full day or the entire week – every day will be different.
Each morning children can take part in a different Chinese cultural activity - bracelet making, lantern painting and decoration, paper cutting and poster making, kite making and decoration, fan painting and decoration.

In the afternoons children will enjoy time outdoors playing Chinese games, learning Tai Chi, and burning off some energy on the lawn in front of our building.

Toward the end of each day the children can wind down watching a Chinese film or cartoon and then learning a few words of Chinese while talking together about the show.

Our staff all have professional teaching expertise, special artistic skills and official Working With Children check certification.

These activities will be happening in the mornings:
Monday, 2 October – Chinese bracelet making
Tuesday, 3 October – Chinese lantern painting and decoration
Wednesday, 4 October – Chinese paper cutting and poster making
Thursday, 5 October – Chinese kite making and decoration
Friday, 6 October – Chinese fan painting and decoration

Cost
$50 per child for full day (including all activity materials, bottled water, morning and afternoon-tea snack) OR
$20 per child for morning activity only (including all activity materials, bottled water, and morning-tea snack)

One-day conference organised jointly by the Centre for Muslim States and Societies, The University of Western Australia, and Australian Institute of International Affairs - Western Australia

Date: 5 October 2017

Time: 9am to 5pm

Venue: Conference Room, The University Club of Western Australia, Hackett Drive, Crawley WA

Cost: $100 standard; $50 students (To be paid in cash at the venue. Costs include morning tea, lunch, and afternoon tea)

Registration required via email to azim.zahir@uwa.edu.au before 4 October 2017.

The strategic scenario in Afghanistan and Pakistan is rapidly changing with President Trump’s announcement of a revamped US policy vis-à-vis the region. He has decided to increase the US troop presence in Afghanistan with the aim of ‘not nation-building …[but] killing terrorists’. His declared expectation of allies to do the same could include a request to the Australian Government to commit more troops to Afghanistan. The possibility of Australia returning to a combat role in Afghanistan to counter Taliban resurgence raises a number of questions about the future scenarios in the region. These include:

What are the main challenges to ensuring Afghanistan’s stability and how could they best be met through regional responses?

How could Afghanistan and Pakistan work together to meet these challenges?

What are the likely responses of other regional states to the revised US strategy on Afghanistan, particularly China and India?

What policy options does Australia have in the region in terms of increasing combat role and/or finding political solutions to the continuing instability in Afghanistan?

The one-day Conference on Afghanistan and the Region aims to explore answers to these questions. Conference to be held under Chatham House rules in order to facilitate discussion.

The year of 1599 was a turning point both for England and for William Shakespeare. Ever since the failed Spanish armada of 1588 there had been serious threats of a fresh incursion. Contrary to much popular belief today, the Spanish threat did not die with Queen Mary’s widowed husband, Philip II of Spain, in 1598. Unwillingly and with great reservations Queen Elizabeth sent the Earl of Essex to quell rebellion in Ireland early in 1599, which was feared to become the launching point for a combined attack from the two Catholic countries of Spain and Ireland. Essex’s mission to defeat or enlist support from the Irish, who had taken a dislike to being progressively invaded and colonised through several monarchies in the sixteenth century, quickly came unstuck. He sailed for Ireland in March with the prospect of victory loudly proclaimed (by Shakespeare among others) but was to return in disgrace by September, uninvited and unwelcome. His sole achievement seems to have been taking the initiative of being the Queen’s deputy in Ireland to knight hundreds of his followers. The queen was not amused to have her authority so lightly traduced.

In Henry V Shakespeare implicitly parallels the expected progress of Essex with the actual progress of the warrior-king. Momentarily the comparison becomes explicit in the Chorus preceding Act 5 of the play, with a prayer for the safe return of Essex. The play would have been first performed soon after the departure of Essex to Ireland. Towards the end of the year came Julius Caesar. Again there is a warrior figure in the title role, but this time the story is one of failure: the play tells of suspicion that dangerous ambition will overwhelm the state. Allusion to the fall of Essex is suggestive rather than precise, but Shakespeare’s audience would have made connections between Essex and Caesar: there were fears that Essex would use success in Ireland to depose the Queen or at least render her subservient to his power. As it happened, a little over a year after his return, Essex did attempt to ride into London with his followers, fulfilling an absurd ambition to take control.

In this lecture, each of these plays will be conceptually charted against a specific cartographic model. For Henry V there is the Ptolemaic map of Anglia by Christopher Saxton (created as the frontispiece to his atlas presented to the Queen on the twenty-first anniversary of her rule). For Julius Caesar the mappa mundi of humanist tradition is evoked, with specific reference to the Hereford map. Each of these two cartographic paradigms suggests its own network of cultural significances in the two plays. This discussion will be offered with illustrated reference to specific maps and their meanings.

This lecture will open the CMEMS/PMRG conference, 'The Natural and the Supernatural in medieval and Early Modern Worlds'. For more information, see http://conference.pmrg.org.au/

Saturday 07

9:00 - SYMPOSIUM - 'The Natural and the Supernatural in Medieval and Early Modern Worlds' : Annual PMRG/CMEMS Conference

Today, the natural and the supernatural are often viewed in stark opposition. In the medieval and early modern period, however, the supernatural infused every aspect of daily life. Prayers and rites punctuated everyday routines, and natural phenomena – such as earthquakes and eclipses – were often viewed with both suspicion and wonder or as divine portents. Miracle stories, rumours of witchcraft, and accounts of relic veneration all indicate that magic shaped medieval and early modern imaginations. The early modern period was also an era of European exploration, invasion and colonisation, which saw the increase of scientific knowledge though encounters with a number of societies around the globe. Natural histories, travel narratives, and objects circulated widely, creating new connections and shaping existing belief systems. As these sources demonstrate, however, persecution also abounded, and was often prompted by perceived differences in culture or beliefs about the (super)natural.

This conference will examine the numerous and various intersections of the natural and the supernatural. What qualified as natural and supernatural in diverse medieval and early modern societies? When was the world categorised in terms of a natural/supernatural binary? When was this not the case? How did people in medieval and early modern societies perceive and experience these phenomena? How and why did beliefs and structures based on understandings of the natural and the supernatural change in this period? What prompted persecution? How are these events represented and experienced through heritage today?

When the Dutch East India vessel Batavia was wrecked on Morning Reef in the Abrolhos Islands in June 1629, none of the more than 300 people on board could have imagined the enduring historical impact of this maritime disaster and its bloody aftermath. Those events have inspired a multitude of books, several documentaries for television and radio, a musical, an opera, and numerous art works and exhibitions.

This free public symposium is being held in conjunction with the Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery exhibition BATAVIA (1629): giving voice to the voiceless. Co-hosted by the UWA Cultural Precinct and the Institute of Advanced Studies, this is an opportunity to hear from artists whose work is displayed in the exhibition and from a diverse group of experts who have played a key role in understanding those events of 1629.

Speakers include:

Robert Cleworth (Artist, New South Wales);
Alec Coles OBE, CEO WA Museum;
Dr Daniel Franklin (The University of Western Australia);
Professor Jane Lydon (The University of Western Australia);
Professor Alistair Paterson (The University of Western Australia);
Corioli Souter (The University of Western Australia; Western Australian Museum);
Dr Paul Uhlmann (Artist, Western Australia; Edith Cowan University);
Arvi Wattel (The University of Western Australia).

Tuesday 10

19:00 - TALK - Friends of the UWA Library Speaker : A History of the Chinese in Western Australia

Gold was the lure for many Chinese coming to Australia. To many Australians the early Chinese came, found their fortune and returned home with full pockets. However this was not the case for the majority of early Chinese. When gold was found in the Swan River Colony, regulations limited Asians from gaining mining permits. There is so much more to the Chinese story prior to and after the discovery of gold.

This talk gives a brief background into the life of the early Chinese in WA and then takes a journey through Karrakatta Cemetery to reveal some untold stories.

About the Speaker

Kaylene Poon is a third generation Australian-born Chinese. Northbridge was her childhood stamping ground, as her parents took over the only Chinese grocery shop in James Street in 1954. Being next door to the Chung Wah Hall meant her father was instrumental in assisting many elderly Chinese living out their final days, far from family and loved ones.

Currently Kaylene is the Local History Officer for the City of Melville, based at the Wireless Hill Museum. She previously worked for the WA Museum at the History (the former Lunatic Asylum) and the Maritime Museums. In 1999 together with the National Trust she assisted in the development of an educational package for secondary and primary students and for a decade offered interactive visits to the Chung Wah and James Street.

Members: Free, Guests: $5 donation

Wednesday 11

18:00 - PUBLIC LECTURE - Genome research produces new anti-malarial drug targets : The 2017 Ian Constable lecture by Professor Simon Foote - Director of The John Curtin School of Medical Research at The Australian National University

In a malarial infection, there is a competition between the malaria parasite and the host. If the malarial parasite can reproduce sufficiently rapidly, it can reach a level of parasitaemia that is lethal to the host. However, if its rate of growth is slowed, the host’s adaptive immune response can kill the parasites before the lethal level of parasitaemia kills the host. The host response that controls the growth of malarial parasites has been largely thought to be the adaptive immune response. This talk will introduce the concept that perhaps as important is the
innate immune response as mediated by platelets. Platelets are able to recognise infected red cells, bind to them, activate and kill malarial parasites. This talk will describe the research underpinning this observation. It will also introduce a large-scale ENU screen that has been performed to identify host molecules that are important in the host response to malaria.

Professor Simon Foote is a molecular geneticist. He is the Director of The John Curtin School of Medical Research at The Australian National University. He has been Dean of The Australian School of Medicine at Macquarie University, Director of the Menzies Research Institute at the University of Tasmania and Divisional Head at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, Melbourne. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the Whitehead Institute at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Professor Foote has a medical degree and PhD from Melbourne University and a DSc from the University of Tasmania. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, the Academy of Technological Science and Engineering and the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Research. Professor Foote is interested in the genetic control of susceptibility to disease, with particular focus on infectious disease. His laboratory has identified loci governing the response to leishmaniasis and malaria. However the major focus of the laboratory is on trying to identify new drugs to combat malaria. By using the example of natural mutations that affect the red cell and making it difficult for the parasite to grow, his laboratory has found genes, that when mutated, prevent growth of malarial parasites. These genetic changes point the way to the creation of a new type of treatment that will be steadfast against the development of drug
resistance. His laboratory is also interested in the genetic susceptibility to other diseases of humans. He is currently working on investigating the reasons that renal disease is so common in Aboriginal communities and in the genetic changes that underpin the familial nature of some
of the common cancers.

The annual Ian Constable Lecture acknowledges the contribution of Professor Ian Constable AO, founding Managing Director of the Lions Eye Institute and founding Professor of Ophthalmology at The University of Western Australia.
This year we are very pleased to have Professor Simon Foote, Director of The John Curtin School of Medical Research at The Australian National University, presenting his talk: Genome research produces new anti-malarial drug targets.
Please note tickets are free but registration is essential due to limited capacity.

Thursday 12

16:00 - MOVED READING - Antony and Cleopatra, by William Shakespeare : Play 3, CMEMS Moved Readings Project

As part of the 'Moved Readings Project', the play will be read on the New Fortune stage with the help of willing students, staff, friends and family. No experience is required, as the readings will take place with script in hand! We hope to provide a dynamic learning space that creates a fun and entertaining experience for anyone who has an interest in early modern drama, acting, theatre studies, or watching colleagues perform outside their comfort zone. Come along and join in!

Join Team WA Homeward Bound 2018 for a lively evening of conversation and celebration on behalf of WA women in science. In a provocative moderated discussion, panelists share stories and insights from their leadership journey. Live music, silent auction, wine and canapés included (tickets $100). Cocktail attire.

If you answered yes to each of these questions, an upcoming treatment group at UWA may be of interest to you.
We are running therapy groups for children with anxiety.
The treatment will closely follow the ‘Cool Kids’ program, an effective group therapy for decreasing anxiety. It runs for 10 weeks, for 1.5 hours each week on a Saturday morning, with sessions for both parent(s) and child held at the same time.

The group sessions will be at the Robin Winkler Clinic (Myers St Crawley) at the University of WA. Your child can continue with any existing therapy or medication throughout that he/she is already involved in throughout the group program.

If you are interested, please contact
Emily South at emily.south@research.uwa.edu.au or
6488 2644 for more information.

In an age when computer technologies, artificial intelligence, robotics and digital technologies are increasingly determining how we think and live, fundamental questions are being asked about what it is to be human. As interactions between humans and computers become more complex, the boundary between computers and humans is shifting. Consider, for example, implanted bio-sensing devices. If computers are embedded within us, are they then part of our human identity?

Some people welcome their robotic companions, driverless cars and delivery drones. Others are disturbed by the growth autonomous technologies and the complex roles and responsibilities being relinquished to them. How concerned should we be as the characteristics and values that make us human are increasingly manifest in new technologies?

Join us for the 2017 Manning Clark House Day of Ideas as we ask what a robotic future could look like and what it might mean for human beings.

Speakers:

Anu Bharadwaj, PhD candidate, Centre for Transformative Work Design, UWA Business School;
Dr Anjali Jaiprakash, Advance Queensland Research Fellow, Medical and Healthcare Robotics, Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Robotic Vision, Queensland University of Technology;
Dr Eleanor Sandry, Department of Internet Studies, Curtin University;
Anna Sawyer, Road Safety Manager, RAC, PhD candidate, Philosophy, School of Humanities, The University of Western Australia;
Dr Chris Stanton, The Marcs Institute for Brain, Behaviour & Development, Western Sydney University;
Dr Elizabeth Stephens, Australian Research Council Future Fellow, Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities, University of Queensland;
Sean Welsh, PhD candidate, Department of Philosophy, University of Canterbury, New Zealand

Cost: $30

14:00 - SYMPOSIUM - The Clever Country: The importance of investing in regional and remote students

This symposium brings together a panel of experts from across Australia to discuss ways to support regional and remote students to succeed in higher education. The purpose is to explore the value of investing in higher education from the perspective of the individual, community and the university sector and to question what we need to do to become a truly ‘clever country'.

The symposium will feature the following panel of experts:

Professor Grady Venville Chair (Dean of Coursework Studies, The University of Western Australia)

The symposium will be held in The University Club of Western Australia Auditorium, and refreshments will be provided.
Attendance is free, but tickets are limited so RSVP is essential. Reserve your ticket here: http://bit.ly/2xunNxe

Wednesday 18

18:00 - PUBLIC TALK - Dating Homo naledi: the story of the surprisingly young age for a new species of hominin that lived in Africa alongside early Homo sapiens

A public lecture by Dr Hannah Hilbert-Wolf, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, James Cook University.

Earlier this year an international team of scientists successfully dated the remains of Homo naledi, a new species of hominin (human ancestor), from the Rising Star Cave in South Africa. In 2013 the first ~1,550 bones belonging to Homo naledi were discovered ~30m below the Earth’s surface, in the dark and difficult-to-reach Dinaledi Chamber of the Rising Star Cave in The Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site. This new species was exciting and perplexing, as the skeletons displayed morphologies similar to both ancient hominins, such as the shape of the pelvis and a small skull, and to recent hominins, such as modern-looking feet. To understand how Homo naledi fits into the story of human evolution, the fossils needed to be robustly dated; a task that proved to be very difficult.

Dr Hannah Hilbert-Wolf, a geologist who has herself studied the sedimentology in the depths of the Rising Star Cave, discovered hominin remains, and helped to date the fossils, will present the compelling story of the discovery of Homo naledi and explain the comprehensive dating approach taken by the team. Surprising results place the age of these fossils between 335,000 and 236,000 years old, which is far younger than what many experts anticipated. Additionally, the team recently announced the discovery of a second chamber (the Lesedi Chamber) deep in the Rising Star Cave, containing an additional 133 Homo naledi fossils. Dr Hilbert-Wolf will discuss how our newfound knowledge about Homo naledi allows us to question long-held assumptions about human evolution. Dr Hannah Hilbert-Wolf is a sedimentary geologist, with additional expertise in geochronology, tectonics, paleoseismicity, and paleontology.

Video has become a well-established tool within learning and teaching, supported by a growing body of evidence demonstrating its positive impact on both the achievement of learning outcomes and the student experience. More recently the potential of video has started to shift away from teaching ‘with’ video to teaching ‘through’ video; the notion that video isn’t simply a digital method of delivering content but can also play an active role in the learning process itself.

In this 45 minute presentation we will be exploring how the use of student-created video is being used to support authentic, engaging, creative, active and problem-based learning, both globally and in our very own backyard at UWA. Join us and learn more about student-created video, its relevance to you and the facilities available on campus to help you make it part of your teaching.

Chinese political leaders and intellectuals continue to struggle with how ‘Chinese values’ fit with ‘universal values’ and by extension, global institutions.

Is there a single global modernity that perhaps China can shape? Or are there multiple modernities and multiple, perhaps competitive, values that political systems aspire to?

In the past, debates have focused on the question of whether Confucianism is in conflict or compatible with democracy. However, these debates are increasingly becoming more complex in response to new political and social forces and new questions concerning the relationship between democracy and Confucianism.

Join in the conversation and see how Confucianism and democracy are shaping our understanding of China today.

A public lecture by Professor Jeffrey Bamber, Head, Ultrasound and Optical Imaging Physics, The Institute of Cancer Research London and Institute of Advanced Studies Gledden Short Stay Visiting Fellow.

Compared with other medical imaging technologies, ultrasound is low cost, transportable, rapid, safe and comfortable for the patient. It offers excellent 3D soft tissue visibility, good blood flow information and high frame rate. It has already made enormous contributions to medicine but the potential for further impact is truly exciting.

This lecture will draw on the author’s work in cancer research to look at recent progress, mentioning parallels that exist because of lessons learnt from mining and construction industries.

A very promising area is mechanical property imaging, known as elastography. A key aim of Professor Bamber’s visit to Perth is to collaborate with The University of Western Australia on this topic. As in geophysics, different types of mechanical wave travel in tissue at different speeds, each providing importantly different information. In medicine, we use a pressure wave (ultrasound) to watch the progress of a shear wave and make images of its speed. This is proving important for diagnosis and assisting treatment of an astonishingly wide range of diseases.

This workshop will explore how micro-learning can change the way you educate your students. Micro-learning is an innovated method of teaching through ‘bite-size chunks’ of accessible content that actively engages students by encouraging them to use their mobile devices in support of their learning, rather than as a distraction.

After discussing current research on micro-learning in higher education, we will showcase some practical ways to integrate micro-learning techniques into your teaching by incorporating the use of social media. You will also learn how to create appropriate ‘bite-size’ digital content for effectively engaging students on social media platforms, and then try your hand at crafting your own live micro-lecture on Twitter!

Note: Bring your own mobile device (smart phone, ipad etc) along to this workshop or borrow one of ours.